The sentiment for newbuilding orders remains fierce with noticeable deals in all ship sizes, for bulkers and tankers

VLOC / Capes
South Korean, Polaris Shipping has added five more 325,000 DWT Very Large Ore Carriers to the newbuilding tally at South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI). The order, worth USD 400 million, is an option being exercised as part of a contract signed on September 25, when Polaris ordered ten VLOCs of the same class from HHI. The delivery of the first ten ships from the batch is scheduled for 2021, however, details on the delivery dates of the new five units have not been disclosed.

South Korean, Korea Line Corporation (KLC) signed newbuilding contracts for two VLOCs at Hyundai Heavy Industries as part of a giant bulker ordering program spurred by Brazilian miner Vale. The 325,000-dwt vessels are costing KRW 184.8bn ($164m) combined. Delivery will be by March 2020.

In the newcastlemax segment, Norwegian owner, Frontline, placed an order for two firm and two optional 208k dwt units at New Times, in China, for a price in the region of $44.5m and delivery in 2020. However, Norwegian daily Finansavisen identified Tor Olav Troim, a former right hand of John Fredriksen, as the buyer of the new ships from the shipyard via a new company 2020 Bulkers.
Norwegian, Mosvold Shipping, placed an order for two firm and two optional capes (180k dwt) at Jiangsu New YZJ, in China for an undisclosed price and delivery in 2019-2020.

Kamsarmax: Turkey’s Zinhi Shipping & Trading made its first order in China for one firm ship plus a single option at Jiangsu Yangzijiang Shipbuilding. Delivery of the firm unit is scheduled for 2019, and the company expects to exercise the option within a few months, but the price remains confidential. However, industry sources estimate the price in the region of $25m. This is the first newbuilding contract for Zinhi since it ordered in Romania 30 years ago.

Tomini signed 1+1+1 x 82k dwt bulk carriers with Taizhou Kouan Shipyard with price about $24.5m each.
Japanese player, Nisshin Shipping reported to have signed huge contract with domestic yard Oshima for seven kamsarmaxes at $27m per unit and seven ultramaxes at $25m each. The Japanese owners are also rumored to have inked a deal with China’s Hangtong Jiangsu yard for seven 82,000 dwt kamsarmax units at around $168m with delivery of the first units coming in 2020.

In the handymax segment, Navibulgar declared its options and added two handymaxes at Yangzijiang for delivery in 2019-2020

Greek Presence:
In the kamsarmax segment, Chartworld Shipping added 1+1 82,000 dwt bulk carriers at Jiangsu Yangzijiang Shipyard paying less than $25m per vessel for the Tier II spec to be completed in second half of 2019. Chartworld had signed similar vessels at $23-23.5m at same yard half year ago.

In the post panamax segment, Z&G Halcoussis is reported to have gone to Japan’s Sasebo yard for 1 x 85,000 dwt bulker with delivery in the first half of 2019.

Tankers
In the crude segment, Shanghai-based Bank of Communications Financial Leasing (BoCom FL) added two more suezmax newbuildings to its extensive tanker programme at Chinese and South Korean yards. Sources close to BoCom FL say it declared the two suezmax options at China’s New Times Shipbuilding, bringing the total order for that ship type there to six. They add the pair of newbuildings represent options it held when it booked the earlier four tankers in May for 2018 and 2019 delivery.

The suezmaxes are ordered against long-term charters to commodity giant Trafigura. New Times is slated to deliver the latest two ships between the end of 2019 and mid-2020. Sources say BoCom FL still has two more optional ships at the private shipyard but company sources deny this. BoCom sources decline to comment on pricing, citing confidentiality agreements, but say the final number will depend on whether Trafigura chooses, as expected, to have the ships delivered with scrubbers, or only scrubber-ready.

the chemical/tanker segment, Usuki shipyard in Japan will construct 4 units x 19,700 dwt stainless steel chemical tankers for Nisshin Shipping at a price suggested to be $33-34m each for 2020 delivery.

China’s Shanghai Dingheng Shipping inked a deal with Ningbo Xinle Shipbuilding Group on the construction of ten 9,000-tonne stainless steel chemical tankers. Dingheng added that it has reached a preliminary agreement with the shipyard on the construction of ten additional 6,000-tonne stainless steel chemical tankers. The delivery and financial terms of the two contracts have not been disclosed.

LPG
Vitol have extended their series of 84,000 CBM VLGCs at Hyundai Heavy Industries by declaring an option for two more vessels at the same price of the previous two firm units at below $75m.

LNG / Offshore
Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) has won an order to build a Floating Storage and Regasification Unit for KRW 250 bn ($221m). SHI received the newbuild order from a consortium of Marubeni, Sojitz, and Pertamina for a 170,00 cubic metre LNG-FSRU to be equipped with Samsung’s newly developed in-house regasification system, The S-Regas(GI). The regasification system is one of the main pieces of equipment for FSRUs.